OBSERVATIONS / RECOLLECTIONS / STORIES

Missionary Zeal, Part 1

I just got back from a two-week vacation in New Mexico. I went there for the express purpose of seeing the 19 Indian Pueblos clustered in the northern part of the state.

Yes, I got the job done. I saw the last one, Isleta Pueblo, on the morning of June 1. That afternoon, I drove back to Albuquerque and flew home.

During that two weeks, I learned a lot about the pueblos and pueblo culture, but frankly, not much surprised me.

For example, I already understood the Pueblo people to be peaceful and stoic by nature. And I knew about their long, sad history of being systematically exploited and mistreated by everyone else.

I could write volumes about the treatment of the Puebloans at the hands of others — aggressive tribes from the north, rule by a succession of conquerors, and the waves of settlers who moved in and overwhelmed them.

But right now, I want to narrow my focus a bit to a couple of centuries earlier: the dirty work of the Spanish in the Southwest region, including the introduction of Catholicism.

Let’s get oriented here. Spain is a nation roughly the size of two Oregons. Yet, starting at the time of Columbus and continuing for 400 years, Spain conquered and colonized most of the Western Hemisphere.

The Spanish colonization of America included the western half of the future United States, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and two-thirds of South America.

The other third, Spain controlled jointly by agreement with Portugal.

The Spanish had the conquest thing down to a science. They were methodical and efficient. They conquered, plundered, enslaved, and forced their religion down the throats of the indigenous folk with — I might as well say it — missionary zeal.

What the church and the Spanish government did, working in concert, was brutal and immoral. But that’s by today’s standards. It’s wrong to call their behavior unchristian, because at the time, it wasn’t.

When the Spaniards arrived in America in the 1500s, church and state were united in their intention to (1) appropriate whatever riches they found and (2) convert the savages to Catholicism. That’s literally why they came.

If you remember your history, the first of the conquistadors in the American Southwest was Francisco de Coronado, who arrived in 1540 in search of seven fabled cities of gold.

One theory is that a local pueblo tribe concocted the story so the Spaniards would go away. It worked, but only temporarily.

Coronado found no cities of gold, of course, but he and his soldiers and the Catholic priests who traveled with him encountered great numbers of pueblo-dwellers, most of them peaceful and benign.

The Spanish came with vastly superior weapons, technology, and organization. At that time, their army probably was the best in the world. The young soldiers who came to the New World were chosen for their zealous commitment to God and country.

The Spanish brought along a few primitive firearms to awe the Indians, but their real advantage over the tribes was Spanish steel. The Puebloans were no match for armored men on horseback wielding swords.

Further, the Spanish used cannons to great effect. And they employed war dogs, mostly mastiffs and Great Danes, trained to attack and kill on command.

Some of the Puebloans resisted, some didn’t. Either way, the Spanish confiscated what food and supplies they wanted. They also used the natives as laborers, and, as was their official purpose, forcibly converted the Indians to Catholicism.

The tribes had no choice in the matter. They could accept Catholicism, or they could die. Many did die.

For the record, the Pueblo tribes were then, and are now, closely-related culturally.

But they are sovereign and independent groups. The 19 tribes speak four different languages, all traditionally oral. Very little is written down. That helps to safeguard privacy.

The Puebloans don’t reveal much about the various religions they practice, either. Most outsiders understand the religious beliefs of the Pueblo tribes only superficially.

Today, to keep it that way, photography and sketching inside the pueblos are strictly limited. Video recording is prohibited under any circumstances.

But back to the old days…

Over the decades, as the European invaders continued to arrive, Catholic churches were built in most of the pueblo villages, using Indian labor. The work was overseen and enforced by Spanish soldiers.

Eventually, a full century later, the Puebloans finally rose up against the Spanish and chased then from the region, again temporarily.

The origins of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 were complicated. Although the Spanish came as conquerors, they also protected the Puebloans from attacks by Plains Indians living further north. Those constant threats from the north accounted for the very existence of the pueblos — which are fortified cities built for defense.

By the mid-1600s, a major drought was underway throughout the region. Attacks from the north became more frequent and more desperate.

Then, in 1675, the regional governor of the Spanish territories, a new guy with lots to prove, ordered the arrests of 47 Pueblo medicine men. These were uncooperative tribal leaders who refused to accept Catholicism and would not explain their own religious practices and beliefs to the Catholic priests.

The governor charged the men with practicing witchcraft. Three of them were hanged. A fourth committed suicide. The others were publicly flogged and sent to prison.

That incident helped set the stage for the Pueblo Revolt a few years later.

In 1680, while many of the Spanish soldiers were away fighting Apaches,
the Pueblo tribes launched coordinated attacks against the Spanish. Hundreds of soldiers, priests, and settlers were killed. The surviving Spaniards fled.

For a few short years, the Puebloans were free again. But the drought continued, as did raids from the north. In 1692, as the Pueblo tribes squabbled among themselves about leadership and politics, the Spanish returned and took control once again.

The Spanish remained until 1810, when Mexico declared its independence.

The Mexicans remained until 1848, when we replaced them.

More about the Pueblo Tribes, their sorry treatment through the years, and a visit to Acoma Pueblo in my next post…